How to prevent Scheduled Tasks from executing by default after an Alteryx Service restart

Question

Good afternoon,

Is there a method of starting the Alteryx server app where the scheduler is not in a default active state, allowing the admins to check the server before any scheduled tasks are released for execution?

I recently upgraded our location's Alteryx Servers from version A to version B.  The versions are irrelevant, because I've not been able to identify an Alteryx Server version where this does NOT occur.

Once the Alteryx Server software was installed, and the physical server rebooted, the default state of the Alteryx Service was active. At a point where check and tests still needed to be executed to ensure that the server was built correctly and all content components were brought forward, the default start state of the Alteryx server allowed scheduled tasks to begin initiating in an environment that had not yet been verified, potentially causing a scenario that could have required hours of work to recover the environment.

Regards,

Kevin Jennings

KJennings · Answer

Hi Joe,

Thanks for responding.  I don't believe the approach you're suggesting is quite the solution I'm looking for.  If the AlteryxService is stopped, the whole Alteryx Server app becomes unavailable.  The components that I need to confirm as part of the upgrade are the subscriptions, users, permissions, data connections, etc., and the server app needs to be running to be able to review those objects via the admin pages.

The method I'm looking for is a means to allow the AlteryxService to start, but with the scheduler or job release component in an off-state.  Currently, as soon as the AlteryxService is running, any queued scheduled tasks are released and executed, and the prod server has not yet been approved to operate within the production network.  This is not a good thing in a regulated company and environment.

So far tech support has offered me an article (https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Discussions/Disable-scheduler-during-Server-upgrade/td-p/119468), listing the available options as...

* Exclusively using Gallery for scheduling

* Disable the workflows from running on a recurring basis

* Disable the worker(s) entirely by selecting Custom under Setup Type and unchecking the Enable Worker option in Alteryx System Settings – this requires a modification to be made to a component that may be overwritten as part of the upgrade installation.

Maybe this is something that should be posted in the wish-list category.

Thanks for your help,

Kevin J

JoeS · Answer

Hi Kevin,

The windows service "AlteryxService" is the component of the server that will be set to automatically start after reboot (I believe with a delay).

If you change this service to start manually instead, this will enable you to check everything server side first, then start this service to kick off the Alteryx server part.

Thanks

Joe